Whistleblower Mark Rosenblum Retains Young Law Group in Insider-Trading and Wrongful Termination Litigation against Thomson Reuters

September 18, 2013

In a key development in its initiative ferreting out alleged insider trading in securities, derivatives, swaps and other risk instruments, Young Law Group announces that whistleblower Mark Rosenblum has retained the firm with regard to Rosenblum’s allegations of insider trading and his related wrongful termination claims against Thomson Reuters.

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) September 18, 2013

Young Law Group, a national leader in whistleblower representation, announces that whistleblower Mark Rosenblum has retained the firm, in whistleblower and wrongful termination litigation against Thomson Reuters (TRI).

As detailed in his complaint, Mark Rosenblum was employed at Thomson Reuters from 1998 to 2000 and again between July, 2005 and August, 2012 selling specialized market information products. In his most recent position as a TRI Redistribution Specialist, Rosenblum oversaw and managed promotion of market moving data, including a metric measuring consumer confidence and sentiment, known as the Consumer Satisfaction Survey (“CSS”). Rosenblum v. Thomson Reuters (Markets) LLC, 13-cv-2219, S.D.N.Y. (April 4, 2013, as amended August 6, 2013) (Scheindlin, J.).

In the spring of 2012, Rosenblum became concerned that Thomson Reuters was allegedly violating securities laws when he learned that Thomson Reuters was providing a sneak preview of the CSS, extremely time-sensitive, market moving information, to preferred, so-called “ultra-low latency distribution,” subscribers. Thomson Reuters was allegedly releasing the CSS data generated by the University of Michigan Survey Research Center at 9:54:58:00 E.S.T., a full two seconds prior to distributing the market moving metric to other subscribers at 9:55:00 and five minutes prior to public release at 10:00 AM, as CNBC reported June 12, 2013 in “Thomson Reuters Gives Elite Traders Early Advantage.”

Rosenblum expressed his apprehensions to Thomson Reuters’ management. Following a series of rebuffs, Rosenblum notified the FBI of the existence of the two second early release of, “potentially market moving information.” He was then allegedly wrongfully terminated, as he asserts in his wrongful termination complaint. Rosenblum v. Thomson Reuters (Markets) LLC, 13-cv-2219, S.D.N.Y. (April 4, 2013, as amended August 6, 2013) (Scheindlin, J.).

A separate complaint, filed with the Office of the Whistleblower of the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleges that Thomson Reuters violated SEC rules by “misappropriating market moving information from the University of Michigan and disseminating it on a selective basis to recipients who then engaged in securities transactions based on such misappropriated information.” Mark Rosenblum Whistleblower Complaint Re: Thomson Reuters’ Markets (LLC), TCR No.: TCR1363205918546, September 3, 2013.

Two seconds constitutes enough time for preferred subscribers to execute high speed trades of securities, which are sensitive to consumer sentiment, with use of sophisticated algorithms, CNBC reports.

Thomson Reuters asserts that it disclosed the tiered system with two second lead time for preferred subscribers in 2011. Thomson Reuters pays the University approximately $1,000,000/year to support the index, CNBC reports. However, according to Rosenblum, TRI released the CSS data to other TRI customers long before 9:54:58.

Thomson Reuters suspended the two second sneak preview after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman insisted it stop the practice. “The securities markets should be a level playing field for all investors and the early release of market-moving survey data undermines fair play in the markets,” Schneiderman said in a press release on July 8th, 2013.

“I blew the whistle for everyone who has a 401K, pension and retirement plan. I want Thomson Reuters to stop this behavior, not just suspend it. I never thought I would get fired for raising an ethics complaint. It must be lip service that Thomson Reuters encourages employees to come forward if they have a question whether something is ethical or not. After being escorted from the building I knew I needed a firm like Young Law Group to help me protect my rights. I reached out to Young Law Group and met with Eric Young and his colleague Jim McEldrew. They impressed me as being straightforward, a great team, confident and experienced in whistleblower litigation. Eric and Jim are tenacious. I felt very comfortable working with Philly lawyers as big chunks of my boyhood and best memories are from vacationing at south Jersey beaches Margate and Ocean City, visiting my grandparents and other relatives celebrating holidays in Vineland, and graduating college from Richard Stockton University,” Rosenblum remarked.

“Selective disclosure of private data in an era of high frequency trading is a new frontier in insider trading law and regulation. We are confident Mark Rosenblum will be vindicated and that Thomson Reuters will be held to account for allegedly misappropriated market moving information from the University of Michigan in a case that could make precedent in securities law for many years to come,” Eric Young said. “Mark Rosenblum does a huge amount for all investors and the public interest, because he’s committed to efficient markets and a level playing field for all market participants. Young Law Group is honored to be representing Mark,” he continued.

“Only when an ethical financial services industry professional like Mark Rosenblum stands up, do markets have any chance of self-correcting,” James J. McEldrew, III commented. “For Mark, the two second advantage distorts the flow of information that is the lifeblood of fairly operating financial markets. Whistleblowers like him can now rely on the reasonable belief standard, which gives financial professionals the capacity to employ professional ethics and standards in order to question the legality of a preferential, sneak preview, insider trading system,” McEldrew said.

Young Law Group specializes in representing whistleblowers throughout the United States and internationally in SEC, False Claims Act, and IRS whistleblower lawsuits. U.S. Whistleblower laws allow private individuals to bring claims on behalf of the taxpayers against companies and individuals that are defrauding the government and to recover funds on the government's behalf. Whistleblowers may be entitled to 15 percent to 30 percent of civil recoveries resulting from a whistleblower lawsuit.